When Time Saved Turns into More Work
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Artificial intelligence helps us complete tasks faster. Yet the time we save is often filled with new work. Research on digital overload, work intensity, sleep, recovery, and human sustainability raises an important question: are we recovering as quickly as we are using up our energy?
Imagine a typical working day. In just a few minutes, artificial intelligence prepares a summary of a document, drafts an initial version of a message, and analyses data that might once have taken an entire morning. We have gained almost an hour. But that hour rarely remains empty. We fill it with another meeting, an additional analysis, or a task for which there previously was no time. By the end of the day, we have accomplished more, but we are not necessarily any less tired.
This is one of the central paradoxes of digital work. Technology increases our capacity, yet organisations—and employees themselves—often respond to greater capacity by increasing the amount of work. Time saved therefore does not become time for reflection, creativity, or rest, but rather space for new demands.
When Technological Assistance Becomes Overload
A study among workers on digital labour platforms found that high levels of engagement with technology can foster creativity. Digital tools provide rapid access to information, make problem-solving easier, and enable more autonomous work. However, when engagement turns into digital overload, the risk of burnout increases and the positive effects on creativity begin to disappear (Bunjak, Černe and Popovič, 2021).
Technology, therefore, is neither inherently good nor bad. What matters is how it changes work: how much additional information, how many interruptions, tasks, and expectations it brings, and how much control individuals have over how they deal with them.
A longitudinal study of employees in digitalised work environments offers further insight into how technology-related stress gradually spills over into general work stress and ultimately burnout. Autonomy can mitigate this process by giving employees greater control over the pace and manner of their work. However, individual freedom cannot fully compensate for poorly designed work, unclear priorities, or unreasonable expectations regarding availability (Černe, Bunjak, Wong, Aleksić and Božič, 2025).
Sleep Reveals the Cost of Intensive Work
The consequences of intensive work often become apparent only when we should be starting to recover. In a study of employees at a large company in the pharmaceutical industry, daily questionnaires and Oura smart rings were used to track employees’ work, well-being, and sleep. Higher daily work intensity was associated with poorer well-being as well as lower readiness to cope with changes at work. High-quality sleep was important for well-being, but it did not consistently offset the effects of high work demands. One good night’s sleep therefore cannot necessarily undo the effects of several consecutive days of excessively intensive work (Zajc, Andolšek, Černe and Škerlavaj, 2026).
Technology—and today, artificial intelligence in particular—allows us to complete tasks faster. Yet greater efficiency can lead to an expansion in the amount of work and higher work intensity. This brings us to the question of human sustainability: how long can we continue increasing work intensity before we begin using energy faster than we are able to restore it?
The balance between energy expenditure and recovery lies at the heart of ongoing research into the reciprocal relationship between sleep and work conducted as part of the Behavioural Laboratory at the University of Ljubljana’s School of Economics and Business. By combining surveys with wearable devices, in collaboration with the University Medical Centre Ljubljana, researchers are conducting longitudinal diary studies among employees, athletes, healthcare professionals, entrepreneurs, and other groups whose work requires high levels of cognitive or physical performance. They examine the process in both directions: how the working day shapes the following night, and how sleep affects our well-being, stress, creativity, adaptability, and performance the next day.
This research forms part of a broader question explored by the programme group Regenerative economy and business: how can we design organisations that do not consume resources faster than they can be replenished? These resources also include people’s attention, energy, health, and creativity. Artificial intelligence can eliminate time-consuming steps and create space for higher-quality work. But we need to know how to protect that space. The true success of technology will not lie solely in enabling us to do more. It will be reflected in whether we are still able to work well tomorrow, a year from now, and a decade from now.
Prof. Dr. Matej Černe, School of Economics and Business, University of Ljubljana
References:
Bunjak, A., Černe, M., & Popovič, A. (2021). Absorbed in technology but digitally overloaded: Interplay effects on gig workers’ burnout and creativity. Information & Management, 58(8), Article 103533.
Černe, M., Bunjak, A., Wong, S. I., Aleksić, D., & Božič, K. (2025). (Techno)stress and subsequent burnout: How job autonomy enables working professionals to regulate demands with control. International Journal of Electronic Business, 20(4), 367–388.
Zajc, K., Andolšek, J., Černe, M., & Škerlavaj, M. (2026). Work intensity, change readiness and well-being: The moderating role of sleep quality. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 39(8), 56–81.